5 Years After
by httydstories
Summary: What if Hiccup ran away and everybody thought he was dead, except one person who knew the truth. Things couldn't be that diferent, right? Afer all how much could thing change in five years!
1. Chapter 1: At Nightfall

5 Years After Chapter 1: At Nightfall

Vikings. They are the most stubborn beings on planet Earth.

Thanks to that, she automatically has to reasons to be in this situation, again.

The first one, since they are so stubborn, they still keep up with this stupid idea, lock up dragons (even though there haven't been raids for 3 years, thanks to stubborn issues, they still do it).

The second reason, she's a viking, like it or not, stubbornness it's in her blood.

That's why she's in this situation, again. The young viking has the filling she's being watched, as always, but the more she looks around, the surer she gets that she's alone. Maybe she gets this filling because nobody approves what she used to do and is about to do again, if anybody found out she would be exiled forever or would be sentenced to dead for treason. But she has to do it, it's wrong and this the least she can do to help them.

The day is over for a while now, everybody in the village is already sleeping and here she is. At the main gate of the arena, ready to release them.

She looks around, to make sure she won't be caught. Seeing she is alone she steps inside.

She goes to the first cage and opens it. A Gronckle. _Yes, it's gonna be easy this one._ She mentally celebrated.

The thing is, this young adult already does this for 3 years now, and with time we learn some things, so she did learn some facts about her scaly friends like: how to deal with each specie, how to deal with one injured dragon, which are the most difficult to calm down, which are the easiest, and it happens that the Gronckles are the easiest to calm. They are very friendly actually.

The moment she opens the cage, the dragon tensed up and in a matter of seconds, was ready to attack. Typical. She instantly puts her knife down (the one she used to open the cage) and raise her hands to show she intents no harm.

The made the dragon curious, no human does that, he turned is head to the side, watching her. After a while with her completely still, he approached her and she showed him her hand, after smelling it, he accepted and reached for her, resting his head in her hand.

The young woman patted him for a little and them took him of the cage and sent him away. With that he flew away without a sound.

She made the same with the others, this time they only had locked 2 Gronckles, 1 Hideous Zippleback and one last she was going to release.

This last cage was in bad conditions and it made more noise than the others while opening, the dragon most be more agitated than normal. Opening it cautiously, she finds a Deadly Nadder slightly disoriented by all the noise.

It took a little more time than usual, but she calmed down the Nadder and took her out of the cage, and although the dragon was very scared, she made no noise, and the young woman was thankful.

The Nadder was ready to take of into the sky when a loud 'CLASH' was heard in all the arena. The woman looked around only to find the Zippleback she had released 'checking out' the weapons.

_Zipplebacks are so stupid. I'm gonna be caught. Thor help me. _With that the Nadder started to squeal and stomp. Without thinking, the young viking took both dragons out of the arena and after making sure they were flying away, she run as fast as her legs could and silently ran behind the village's houses until she reached her. She cautiously climbed her house's wall until she reached her bedroom window. Once inside she got to bed and tried to calm down after all that adrenaline rush and tried to pretend that nothing happened.

A little before

They got to the three were they always watch the event, it's tall and we can hide perfectly well and the darkness of the night helped a little more.

"Right on time, uh bud?!" – the young man asked is friend.

All he got was mumbled he couldn't quite ear as an answer.

He turned his attention to the arena and saw her. She was wearing her dark brown cloak, it covers her completely and has a hood that covers her head and most of her face. It probably doesn't belong to her, it's to big, but she has always that when she's doing this, it must be har disguise, and he must say, it works very well.

With the darkness of the night and with that hood, he can't even imagine who n Thor's name is _she_. He thinks it's a woman because of _her_ fragile frame, but he's not sure. _She_ never brings any weapon, only that knife _she_ uses to open the cages. There's no clue to know who _she_ is, but it must be a woman.

This time she is actually being quite fast, is already in the last cage. He always gets fascinated and anxious watching doing this.

The first time he saw her do this, when he found out, maybe 6 months ago, he was dumbfounded, he thought she was going to hurt them or something like that, but then she started to open the cages and releasing them, he was shocked to say the least. He never imagined that anyone from Berk would do anything like that. But maybe, not only he felt shocked, but also felt admiration. Admiration for the brave person, that even knowing the consequences of her treason would still help 'the enemy'.

A little touch in his arm brought him back to reality and he saw his friend a little agitated.

"What is it, bud?"

When he looked back to the arena, he saw why the strange behavior of his friend. She calmed down the last dragon, now he can see that it's a Deadly Nadder, but on the other side of the arena is the Zippleback she realized before and he is now inspecting the support were the weapons are.

He starts to go to the main gate to go away, and he released a breath he didn't know he was holding in relive. But then…

CLASH

The Zippleback hit the support with its tail making some of the weapons to fall to the ground making a not so gracious noise. The Nadder grew anxious and started to squeal and stomp. _How great, more noise for her to get caught._ He was mentally panicking for her.

With a calm and speed he never thought possible for this situation, she managed to make both dragons fly away and ran really fast, disappearing form his sight in no time.

Not even a minute after she ran away, many other vikings got to the arena, all armed, but when they saw the empty cages they got, let's say, upset that that had happen, _again_.

Who wasn't upset was the chief, Stoick the Vast, he wasn't upset, he was furious, completely mad, his face almost exploded from rage.

After much shouting and screaming from the chief, everybody returned to their houses since they could do nothing.

_Oh My Thor! That woman is crazy, she almost got caught today. I don't know if she is going to make this again so soon after this one!_

He was pulled out of his thoughts once again, by his friend, who looked tired and ready to go home.

"Yes bud, let's go home and pray for this crazy woman to stay well after this one." And with that he mounted his dragon and fellow and they went to the place they called home.


	2. Chapter 2: Worst News Ever

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own How To Train Your Dragon**

Chapter 2: Worst News Ever

The next day everything was going relatively well, that is, as well as it could.

After her morning train in the forest, the young viking came back to the village, only to hear everybody talking about what happened the night before. While she was walking, she received same glances from a few villagers that still criticized her after all these years. Well, at least she could be sure that no one would suspect her. She doesn't understand how there still are people that hadn't forgotten, 5 years already passed since she received that name. Now she knew what he went through. _Stupid people. _She shook that thoughts off of her head and continued toward her destiny.

While she was going to the Great Hall, she noticed that Gobber was alone at the Forge and decided to go to him.

During the past 5 years, she has been coming here many times, either for making Gobber company or just to sit in the little seat, which was in the backroom that he used to occupy, and admire all the sketches, blueprints and strange inventions that he had left behind. It always made her fill closer to him even though he wasn't there.

"Hi Gobber, need any help?"

The old blacksmith shuddered all over upon hearing her voice. This isn't the first time something like that happens, it used to happen when she first started to come by, but he soon got used to her sudden arrivals.

"Is everything alright? You look a little edgy today."

"Astrid lass, what are you doing here today?" _Okay, he's definitely strange today. _This rarely happens and only when he is hiding something from her, but she knows that, in these situations, it's better not to put pressure on him, so she ignored.

"I was passing by and I noticed that it's pretty calm around here today and decided to see how you were." She made up as an excuse "So, how are you?"

"Uhm" he hesitated, knowing that she knew more than she was saying, but he let it pass and thanked to all the Gods that she hasn't pressed. "Everything is alright lass, the day here has been calm today, how about you?"

She hesitated a little but quickly answered "Everything is perfect." She thought she had seen the old man grimace, but she ignored it and resumed her way to the Great Hall.

After having lunch alone, _as always,_ Astrid decided to go to a place she hadn't been for a while now, so she entered the forest an started her walk to her destination. After maybe 15 minutes walking, she finally arrived and sat down on top of a medium sized rock. This was one of her favorite places in all Berk. Excluding the Forge, this was where she felt closer to him, after all, this was the place where she saw him for the last time before he left.

_5 years before_

_There he was, in the middle of the arena, with a Monstrous Nightmare right in front of him. Her heart was beating so fast that almost damaged her rib cage, she couldn't do nothing more than just watch. Everything was going as he wanted. The dragon was calm and everybody was watching them completely silent. Nobody knew what to think. The silence and the tension were so that you could cut them with a spreading knife. But that didn't last long. When she thought that he had made it, the chief recovered from his initial shock and soon interrupted everything. With the sound provoked by the collision of the chief's hammer and the protection around the arena, the Nightmare panicked and started sending fire everywhere. Before she thought of what she was doing, the teenager was already inside the arena trying to save him. _

_Chaos was installed inside the arena, vikings shouting from one side to the other, the chief was furious, the scared dragon was now chasing Hiccup and she was trying to reach him and help him. All of this was interrupted by the unmistakable whistle of the famous Night Fury. No one knew what to do, the fear caused by the sound obvious in their faces. Out of nowhere a little explosion was heard and a hole on one side of the arena's protection appeared an there he was, Toothless was in the arena fighting with the Nightmare and protecting Hiccup. When the Nightmare retreated everyone was speechless and she already was by Hiccup's side. Suddenly she heard Hiccup's voice, who decided to take this opportunity that there was silence._

_"What you just witnessed were two dragons fighting each other, one to attack and one to protect. That Nightmare only attacked because he felt threatened, until that moment he wouldn't do any harm to anyone" He looked angrily at his father, who was with an unreadable expression "And Toothless came to save and protect me because that's what happens when we win their confidence and loyalty, they protect us as if we were one of them. Dragons can be great friends if given a chance, they ca-"_

_"I've heard enough" resound the very, very angry chief's voice "Where did you get all this craziness? We are vikings, we fight we these beasts since the time of our ancestors. What's wrong with you?"_

_"We don't have to fight them, we can unit and fight together, we-"_

_"Together? With these beats? Never! Captor the Night Fury!"_

_"No, don't touch him!"_

_"Hiccup, let them get hold of the dragon! NOW!"_

_"Never, you won't touch him, not even over my dead body." In this moment Stoick looked him up and down and gave him his deadlier look. "Very well" he started "if you want so much to protect your pet dragon than be my guest but I guarantee you this, if you do so, you are no longer my son, you are no longer a Hooligan and you no longer belong to Berk."_

_Shock, pain, sadness, rage and determination could be seen in Hiccup's face, after hearing his own father telling him this. Next to him, he could see Astrid gaping. _How can a father say this to his own son?_ Was all that came to her mind. But apart from everything, Hiccup stood strong. "Well" he started shortly after "in that case, I think this is where we separate our ways. Until never, Stoick." And with that he climbed onto Toothless and disappeared into the skies, leaving behind everybody speechless._

Astrid still remembers how she ran the faster she could until she reached the place she was right now.

_As soon as she reached the Cove, she saw him and Toothless, he was preparing to leave. "Hiccup" she shouted while she was going in his direction "What are you doing?" panic was obvious in her voice._

_He gave her a sad smile "You were there, you know what happened. I have to go, I was disowned and banish by my father." That only made her panic grow. "Maybe he said that on the spur of the moment, maybe it will be better tomorrow, mayb-"_

_"There is no maybe, Astrid." He stopped her rambling with a sad tone "I challenged him in front of the whole village and he punished me for that." She couldn't, didn't want to believe. "But…" _

_"There is no other way, I have to go. But I wouldn't worry too much if I were you, nobody is being affected, nobody will miss me." No, that wasn't true, she would. She would miss him very much. "I will, I will miss you." She said softly, almost as a whisper and not meeting his eyes, instead, she had her gaze towards the ground._

_With that he took both her hands in his "Astrid, look at me" he asked her softly. Reluctantly she did so "I have to go. Everybody knows how he is, and he will never come back in his words and much less will forgive my treason." He left go of her hands and lifted his own towards his neck from where he took a strange necklace and putting it around her neck. "Keep it" he told her while she looked at him with wide eyes "that way, you will always have a part of me with you. Astrid, I promise I will never forget you and I also will miss you very much, you're probably the only one I'm gonna miss." He pointed at the necklace, now placed around her neck "let this seal my promise and let it remind you of it"_

_She didn't want to cry, she wouldn't cry, she was Astrid Hofferson after all, but she only realized she already was doing it when he put his hand on her cheek and caressed it while was wiping the tears. "P-promise… promise you'll be safe and sound, please" was the only thing she was able to say. He gave her a sad smile, sad but sincere. "I promise" After hearing that she pulled him into a tight embrace which he returned. _

After they pulled apart from the embrace, they said their goodbyes and Hiccup and Toothless disappeared into the skies once more and, after putting herself together again, she went home. After that day she never took off the necklace. It was unique, more emotionally than anything else, but it also was a unique piece of jewelry. It had two parts, a delicate silver string and a pendant. After some time, she came to the realization that it was a dragon scale and not any dragon scale, a Night Fury scale, Toothless' scale. The scale had, all around, a silver rim, in the front had the Strike Class symbol engraved with a silver material and in the back a word also engraved with the same material. But it wasn't any word, it was a name…

"Hiccup"

So many things have changed since he left. She was right, she really misses him. If he was here, she knew things would be different, if he had convinced the others it would all be completely different.

But she can't hold on the past and in the 'ifs', she has to go on.

After composing herself, the young woman decided it was time to go back. Differently from her mood, everything was calm and peaceful in the village, something very strange considering the events of last night, but for once she let it pass and went to her house.

When she arrived to the Hofferson's house, she spotted her parents, _both of them_, sitting in the main room and waiting for her.

_I did nothing wrong, what in Thor's name do they want know. Is it possible for them to have found out about yesterday? _A small (gigantic) wave of worry about the possibility of her being discovered filled her mind.

"Astrid" her thoughts were interrupted by her father's voice "Sit, we have to tell you something" was all he said while he pointed to a chair that was in front of both of her parents. She obeyed and took her place in the said chair. With her throat was completely dry, but she still managed to ask as calm as possible "Is everything alright?"

Her mother shifted, searching a position more comfortable, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation they would have, while her father cleared his throat "Your mother and I talked with the chief and with… some other people…" this was not helping, her anxiety was growing even more, she tried to stay calm tough, to not give herself "And…" she tried to make him continue. He took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes.

"Astrid, you're getting married in a month."


	3. Chapter3:A Nightmare That Became Reality

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own How To Train Your Dragon**

* * *

Chapter 3: A Nightmare That Became Reality

_Get married? A month? How? With who? Why?_ She could only stare at them, her gaze travelled from her father to her mother nonstop. After what seemed like forever, she finally reacted.

"Get married?" was all she could say and only loud enough so they could hear.

Her parents didn't answer, although they already knew she wasn't going to like the idea, they weren't ready for this conversation, they didn't have time to do so, they had just signed the marriage contract between the two families this afternoon and there wasn't much time to prepare the conversation they are now having with their daughter.

In the other side of the table, Astrid was still in shock. Getting married? She? She never even thought of men much less in getting married. She never thought of getting married for two reasons. First of all, she doesn't want to became a man's slave, doesn't want to be forced to do things for a man, doesn't want for a man to take care of her life. Second reason, she doesn't want to lose her freedom. She has secrets that, if discovered, could condemn her to death. Ok, maybe there is a third reason, she never thought about marriage and after that day she decided that she would never do it, definitely.

Receiving only silence in response, Astrid recovered from her initial shock and, more firmly this time, continued "What do you mean getting married? With who? And why in a month precisely?" with this, she looked her father in the eyes and could see a mix of emotions in them. Sadness, anger and determination.

"After you lost the Hofferson's honor, the name you carry and should respect, the only way to win some honor back or maybe try to make people forget what happened, is with a god marriage." He began "we sealed the treaty this afternoon, with the chief and the boy's parents. You are getting married within a month because the boy's parents asked to."

"I already apologized so many times for ruining the family's name, but marriage won't be good to anyone, I'm not good for domestic, I'm not good to be a married woma-" Astrid started rambling until she was interrupted by her father, who was furious and screaming now.

"You're not good for domestic! You're not good to be a married woman! You're not good to fight dragons and defend the village! What are you good for, Astrid, what for?" She was taken aback.

Her relationship with her parents was never good since she received that despised name and destroyed her family's name, but hearing her father said this shook her.

Her mother said nothing, just followed the argument silently and with an expression unreadable. Her father took a deep breath and carried on "In that day, that wretched day when we discovered that we found out about your problem, my will was to disown you and never see you ever again. I just didn't do it because you are my only heir, my only daughter and because I had hope that you would stop being an idiot, but nothing changed. 5 years and you're still like this, a disappointment. This marriage is the only thing that can save you. You either get married or you lose everything."

A silent tear ran down her face. How could he say something like that to his own daughter, his only daughter? Rage. Treason. Disappointment. She never thought her father would throw this to her face.

"Who am I going to marry?" she asked without showing any emotion in her voice.

"You are going to marry with Snotlout Jorgenson"

Without a single word, Astrid got up and made her way to her room. As soon as she got there, she slammed the door with all her forces. _Getting married with Snotlout. _One of her worst nightmares, reality. She preferred to get married to a yak. Her father thought in disowning her. Either she gets married or she loses everything. She thought about everything that he said and came with a question. _What do I have to lose?_

She has no friends anymore, no one respects her, her parents don't love her, don't want her and are going to make her get married with a man that always looked at her with nothing more than lust in his eyes.

_Nothing_. She has nothing to lose. They don't want her, she disappears, but getting married with Snotlout, she won't do.

She picked up a bag in the corner of her room and started to pack her things. She filled it with a fur blanket, three red sleeveless shirts, two dark spiked skirts, two leggings, bandages, some things she had in her room as first aid and closed the bag and hid it. She still had her boots on, her fur hoodie, her metal shoulder pads and her matching silver belt decorated with small skulls. Some time ago she had replaced her arm-wrappings with large, thick bracers covered in fur and she still had them on. Still completely dressed she pretended to be sleeping and waited some time.

* * *

After waiting maybe two hours, the young viking took her bag and went to her room's door quietly. She made sure that both her parents where sleeping and went downstairs. She tried to be quick yet silent, she was trying to escape not being caught. She passed by the fireplace that was still lit and quickly made her way to the main door. Once outside, she felt the cool breeze of the night caress her face.

The whole village was already sleeping, nobody would stop her. She silently went to the forest and, without looking back, she continued her path and went inside the forest.

After walking with a brisk pace for about 30 minutes, the young viking came to a clearing, far enough away from the village that she was sure no one would ever find the place. In the clearing was a cave and she knew that who she was looking for would be there.

"Stormfly, are you there?" she called.

A familiar rumble was heard from inside the cave and she wasn't able to contain the smile that appeared on her face. Not even a second later her beloved dragon came out of the cove, super happy and lively to see her friend and rider.

"Hello girl, how have you been? Sorry I didn't come sooner." The Nadder nudged her with the head "I've missed you too, but now, we're gonna be together, we are going to find a place where you don't have to hide all the time."

Upon hearing this, the Nadder started to run in circles, excitedly. Stormfly is a beautiful Deadly Nadder, she is mainly blue but also as gold, purple and red scales and has a light beige underbelly. She has small hooks at the end of her wing joints and her tail is coated with a series of spines that can be used as projectiles, around her skull is a set of spikes end in front of her eyes is a curved nasal horn.

"I'm glad you liked the idea. Came here, let's go…" she tied her bag to Stormfly's saddle and rode her shortly after. When she was up in the skies she looked behind and saw the village where she grew up "Goodbye Berk." And with that she flew away.

* * *

After some hours travelling, Stormfly and her rider were tired and saw an island.

"What do you say, girl? We rest here?" the dragon only grunted in response "Come on, we're only going to patrol around the island to make sure it's safe and then we rest." With this they started to patrol.

The island was relatively small and within half an hour they already had patrolled the entire island "It looks like it's safe and the sun's already rising, let's take a nap."

The dragon wrapped around herself and Astrid laid down on the floor next to her. It was really uncomfortable, but she was so exhausted that she didn't even care. She was ready to sleep when, suddenly, she felt movement next to her and when all the moving stopped, she was lying on top of Stormfly's belly, under her wing and with her tail around her.

Astrid smiled to herself "Thanks girl." and with that, they fell asleep.

* * *

When they woke up, the sun was already high in the sky, Astrid stretched and looked around only to find Stormfly with a pile of fish in front of her. Seeing that her rider was awake, the dragon immediately picked a fish and gave it to her friend. "Thanks girl, but I think it's better for me to cook it before I eat it. After all, I'm not like you dragons." She giggled "I'll be right back."

She came back after a while, with some pieces of wood. She placed them on the ground and made a fire pit with it. "Would you help me?" she asked her friend. The Nadder understood and happily lit up the fire "Thank you girl." She speared the fish on a stick and put it on the fire.

While she was cooking the fish, Astrid got time to think and soon she started to talk with her friend who had already eaten her fish and was now resting.

"Maybe I was hasty, what are we gonna do? Travel forever? We can't do that, sooner or later we're going to find trouble."

She kept thinking a bit while she ate her fish, still without the Nadder's attention, then she spoke again "We can search for a place where dragons are accepted." This got the Nadder's attention "A place where you and I can be together without you having to hide yourself all the time, where we can be together whenever we want… But what if that place doesn't exist?" With this the dragon became upset "Ok, don't worry, I got the solution, don't be sad. If there is no place such as like that, we find a place in an island where we can be together." Both were so excited with the idea, that when weird noises sounded both were caught by surprise.

"But this island surely won't be." Astrid quickly got up, went to Stormfly and they both flew away.

* * *

During the first day away from home, the routine was always the same: find an island, security patrol, sleep, eat and set off in search of the ideal place, doing the process as many times as needed.

Nothing exiting happened, until the 5th night away from Berk, that they found an island with a fishing village. Astrid was reluctant, but decided to land on the island.

Little did she know that iin this island the curse of her journey woould change.


	4. Chapter 4: A new destination

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own How To Train Your Dragon**

Chapter 4: A new destination

They landed and Astrid dismounted Stormfly "You better stay here, girl. We don't know this place, we have no idea how's their relation with dragons." The dragon protested a little, not wanting to let her friend go alone to an unknown place. Astrid put her hands on her friends face and made the dragon look at her "We do it like this, I go there and come back before the sunrise. If the sun rises and I'm not here, you can go and see if I'm fine, but without making anything dangerous, deal?" reluctantly Stormfly gave her a 'SQUACK' and touched her forehead with her rider's.

Astrid pulled away and caressed her friends head before putting on her cloak and pulling the hood up.

This cloak is different from the one she used at Berk, it is dark red (in the distance looks like it's black) instead of dark brown, it only covered to the ankles instead of reaching her foot and it doesn't cover her face completely.

She started to walk in the village's way. They had landed ear, but not close enough so the villagers wouldn't find Stormfly.

When she arrived, the first thing she saw was the dock, two boats were moored there. Near the dock were two elderly men, maybe around 60 years, around a campfire warming their hands by the flame, they were probably watching the boats. They were sitting on logs, facing each other and one of them was with his back turned to her. The bearded man with hair saw her move and looked at her "It's late already, lass. What are you doing here at this time?"

She approached a little more, so she wouldn't have to speak to high "I'm sorry, but I'm not from here, I'm just passing by."

"That's why I wasn't recognizing you, my apologies. Wanna sit and warm up a little? You're a little pale."

In fact, she was cold, but she didn't want to let her guard down next to two unknown men. She quickly studied them.

_Two old fishermen, obviously, they were not trained to hunt or kill dragons like the others, they have a less destructive physicist._

She could take them down if they tried anything, so she decided to sit down on the log that the man that was talking to her was, stretching her hands towards the fire, like both men had theirs. "So, miss…" he asked "Astrid" she answered serenely.

"Miss Astrid, what did you come to do in our humble village."

"I'm just passing by. I'm travelling."

"Travelling you say, where do you intend to go?"

"I don't know, I'm searching for the perfect place."

"The perfect place…" said the other man, who until now was silent. "This is the perfect place. We have all kind of fish, the only problem is the neighborhood."

"Don't say rubbish, Hakon. Above all, each person has their perfect place, it depends on what you think it's necessary or not, in your case, fish." Scolded the old man next to her.

"What's wrong with the neighborhood?" she was curious about this topic. "There's nothing wrong, it's just that some people like to come up with tales ab-" the man with withe hair tried to explain, but was cut off by Hakon.

"They aren't tales, Mimir. I've seen it we my very own eyes and almost everybody in the village has already heard it."

"Heard who?" she looked from one to the other and was getting more and more confuse.

"Tell her Mimir, you know how to tell the stories better than I do." Begged Hakon, Mimir took a deep breath before telling the story.

**_"Some years ago, less than one year before the raids stopped, an island (not so far from here if you head north), which was almost completely uninhabited and practically, hum, let's say dead, it suddenly started to get countless types of dragons of all species and it started gaining live."_**

**_"This didn't affect anyone and for some time nobody gave it relevance, but as the days were passing the island was getting even more mysterious. And everybody knows, people are curious. Soon boats were sent to check what was going on the mysterious island. Some days after the boats came back. Just by the time they took to go and come back, you could guess that they weren't there not even one day, and it was, indeed, true. The fishman were there for a couple of hours and it was enough for them to come back completely crazy, delirious with a demon, one being that could ride and control dragons, but what scared them the most was the fact that he doesn't ride any dragon, he is always seen in the back of a Night Fury. Everyone was terrorized with the unholy offspring of lightning and dead itself. And even more scared when they got in front of a being capable of controlling it." _**

**_"Most of the people say it's a demon, some say it's a monster and one man said it was a human being, but that one already died with delusions. Some say they already saw them fly in the darkness of the night, some say they heard the unmistakable whistle of the Night Fury at night, others say they saw them wander in the forest. But the truth is that no one knows if those stories are true or if they are made out of nowhere."_** Mimir ended the story and Hakon immediately spoke.

"They are true. I've already seen them in the darkness of the night and heard the whistle of the tenebrous beast. It's the only Night Fury I've ever seen."

Through this whole time, Astrid remained silence, listening and now she was deep in thoughts.

_Is it possible? Is he still alive? He managed to survive alone, around there? What if it's not him?_

"Is everything alright, Miss Astrid?" her thoughts were disrupted by Mimir's voice, who was now looking at her a little worried.

"Ah? Yes, I'm fine, just thinking. A demon on a Night Fury's back that controls dragons?" she asked.

"No one ever saw in close, maybe because nobody had courage enough to get closer to him, but many reports that they saw him, they say it's a demon with a structure similar to a normal human and that he uses a sword with fire to control the dragons." Hakon explained.

"But you don't have to worry with any of this, Miss. If you don't go in the island direction, especially at night, there's no danger. If any of this rubbish is true, don't go to north and there is nothing to fear." Mimir tried to comfort.

"I assure you they're true, sometimes they come here at night an-" Hakon was soon interrupt by Mimir.

"And I never saw or heard anything, only you who believe in fantasies witness that. It's all from your heads."

"Believe in whatever you want, I know what I heard and saw."

While the two elder men were discussing, Astrid was once again lost in thought.

_If it is him, I can try to see how he is. After 5 years how his he now? Did he keep his promise? Does he still remember me or has he forgotten who I am? _

With this, she decided, she's going to look after this 'demon' that rides a Night Fury.

She got up and smiled to both fisherman "Thanks for the company and for the stories, but it's getting late and I should go."

"Nonsense, Miss Astrid, it was a pleasure to have you here, usually it's just the two of us." Mimir reassured her.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Astrid. Until the next time." Said Hakon.

"The pleasure was mine, thank you once again and until next time."

Astrid smiled to them one last time and started to walk in the village direction, so that they see her going to the forest.

After walking around for a while, the young viking went to the forest to go find her loyal friend.

* * *

**Astrid's POV **

As soon as my Nadder saw me, she gave a 'SQUACK' out of happiness and came running in my direction. I couldn't contain the smile that spread in my lips and when Stormfly was next to me, I put my arms around her head.

"Everything's okay, girl." I told her while I caressed her "I told you I would be back before the sunrise, see, it took no time."

She walked around me to check if I didn't have any injuries or even blood coming out of somewhere. After getting that I was safe and sound, she stopped in front of me and gave me a low grunt, making me smile. "Alright girl, let's get some rest. When we wake up, we eat something and then we're going to look for an island, but this time, it's a specific island." She gave a curious look "Yes girl. We're gonna find an old friend. Hopefully." I explained, whispering the last part.

We went to sleep. Tough we were sleeping on the ground, I feel comfortable with Stormfly protecting me with her wing.

The next morning, after we woke up, the sun was already high in the sky and Stormfly and I went to the beach on the other side of the island to catch some fish for both of us. After eating, we started our search for the mysterious island, heading North.

We travelled the whole day, the sun was setting and the moon was already spotted in the sky. We are both tired by now after flying for so long with only one or two stops.

_Where's the island? They said it was close. The island didn't just get more distant, we haven't seen a single real island yet. Maybe it was invented stories after all. _I was losing hope.

I was so deep in thought that when an island appeared ahead of us, I didn't notice, so Stormfly gave a 'SQUACK' to get me out of the depths of my thoughts so I could see what was right in front of me.

"Well done, girl! We found an island full of life, in the North. Let's see if we find anyone in there." I said while I patted her head.

By the time we finally got to the island, it was night already and the sky was illuminated with countless stars. We landed on the beach, I dismounted her and held her head in my hands.

"Okay girl, listen carefully. If this is the island I think it is, it's filled with dragons of many species, and we aren't here to make trouble, so we can't attack any dragon, alright? Only if we don't have another choice." She growled in agreement.

I pulled up the hood of my cloak and started to walk into the forest, in no specific direction.

We were already walking for some time now and all I saw were trees, vegetation of all types (some that I never saw in my whole life) everywhere and now I could see some mountains ahead of us. The beach was long gone behind us.

"I don't know girl" I spoke after a while "looks like this is the wrong island. This place looks like it's completely aband-" before I could finish, we heard a sound of something moving behind the trees. We both froze, trying to find were came the sound from.

Each second that passed the sound got louder and louder, soon it got clear what it was, a dragon coming our way, with 4 paws on the ground, getting closer. When the dragon got in front of us, I kind of felt relived. A Gronckle. He was just there, quiet, looking at us and I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.

I slowly held my hand up and walked with careful steps towards the dragon. "Hey, big fella. How are you? Calm down, we're not gonna hurt you." I tried to get to the Gronckle, that was now calm, when…

CRACK

I heard the sound of a branch braking and I was sure it wasn't me or any of the dragons.

I turned to the left, just in time to see a figure completely covered in black, running in my direction and knocking me down, staying on top of me. I was with my arms in front of my chest and my hands protecting my face, ready to take in punches that could come in my direction, but nothing happened, my opponent was frozen on top of me. I took the chance and gave him a punch on the side, making him fall to the side, getting off of me and waking up for reality.

We got up and both got ready to fight. I had no idea who he might be since he was completely covered by an armor and a mask in the face (the flight suit from HTTYD3), but judging by the structure it must be a man.

* * *

**A little before**

**? POV**

I was in forest, giving my night walk, one of my favorite part of the day, when I saw a Deadly Nadder, with someone in it's back, landing in where I suppose was the beach, not that far from where I was. Silently I started my way to where they landed.

After a while of speed walking, I found them with a Gronckle. Now at I'm close enough, I can see that the Nadder is mostly blue and a little yellow and that the person that was with the dragon was a woman, but I see her face because she is using a cloak that covered to the ankles. I slowly got closer to the _mysterious woman_ while she was walking towards the Gronckle, when…

CRACK

I look down and see that I stepped a branch. Without knowing what to do, I made the first thing that came to my mind and started to run in her direction and before I could stop myself, I bumped into her, making us both fall, me on top of her. She put her arms and hands ready to take a beating up, but right now I couldn't attack her, I just wanted not to show I was in pain, because all of the sudden, I was. I was having another fathom pain in my left leg.

_What a great time to have a phantom pain. _I thought through the pain.

I felt a sudden pain on my side, and fell from where I was, wiggling on the for.

As soon as I stopped, I got up and looked at her. She was just like me, ready to combat.

She gave the first step, coming directly at me and trying to give me a punch in the face, but I managed to dodge it and counterattacked immediately, directing my elbow at her ribs, but she understood my intention and blocked the attack with her forearm before I could reach her.

We kept on fighting, exchanging punches and until she decided to use her legs, trying to kick me, as soon as she made so, I grabbed her leg, making her fall. Once on the ground she used her other leg and took me down. They were now both on the ground with her legs around me. Desperate, I started to search for something to use as a weapon or a shield.

The moment I found a branch strong enough not to break, she got to me and was ready to attack.

**Astrid's POV**

I managed make my opponent fall on the ground after some fight, but I also fell and now we're both on the ground. My back is uncomfortable, and when I tried to get up quickly, it hurt like hell, I got up slowly and as soon as I was up on my feet, I went straight to my opponent. When I was close to him, I got down.

I was ready to knock him out when suddenly…

PACK

Everything was black.

* * *

I'm sorry I hadn't posted for so long, but there's only one word to say why it took me soooooo long 'school'.


	5. Chapter 5: 5 Years Later

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own How To Train Your Dragon**

* * *

Chapter 5: 5 Years Later

I woke up.

And I have no idea where I am.

I sit. My back and my right leg hurt like hell. I'm in a bed, it's comfortable. Right in front of me, I spot a fireplace, already losing its flame. I look around, by the look of the wall and the shape of the 'bedroom', I must be in a cave. My head hurts, in the left side of my forehead, I raise my hand to reach for it and when I touch there, I can feel bandages around my head. With all the pain, I try not to move too much.

I look down, I see now that I don't have my shoulder- pads nor do I have my skirt, I also don't have the bracers around my arms. I'm only with my leggings and tunic and a fur blanket. My boots are on the floor next to bed.

_I have to get out of here! But I don't know where I am or if there's anyone watching outside nor where Stormfly is, I don't even know how to get out of here._

As soon as I thought about it, someone entered in the room, I can't see very well because the fire was too weak and it was indeed dark in here, but I know whoever it is, it's looking at me, watching me.

We stay in silence, looking at each other for a while, until I spoke.

"Where is my dragon?"

He didn't answer, instead, he asked his own question.

"Where are you from?" he asked with a nasally and firm voice.

"Where's my dragon?" I ask again, ignoring his question. He took a deep breath "Is in the stables with other dragons." He answered with an irritated voice "Now tell me, where did you get this?" he asked as he lifts his right arm and in his hand is my pendent hanging. I gasp and my hand instantly goes to the place where it used to be.

"Give it back!" I practically yell. His face twists as if he was controlling himself from just throwing me into the deep ocean. He took a deep breath, again.

"First, you are going to tell me where you got this, then I-"

"It was given to me. Someone important gave it to me. Can you give it back now?" I interrupted without patience.

He stayed quiet, looking at me for some time, observing me, PISSING ME OFF.

After some time looking at each other, he came closer and extended his right arm in my direction, with my pendent. I took it from his hand and put it in its proper place, around my neck. He walked away from the bed and stayed facing the dying flames at the fireplace and I kept sitting on the bed. We stayed like that for a while, until he broke the silence.

"You're definitely not from here. What are you doing here?" he asked turning around, so he was now facing me.

Of course he would ask. What is a perfect stranger doing here? Especially knowing that this island, apparently, only has dragons.

_Should I tell him the truth?_ I think in silence while I play with my pendent.

He sighed, probably annoyed, bringing me back to reality.

"I-i…" I stuttered? Since when do I stutter? He isn't that intimidating for me to stutter. I cleared my throat and was ready to answer but he did before I could.

"And don't dare lie to me"

I take a deep breath and release silent sight before answering "Me and my dragon, we are on a quest."

**Hiccup's POV**

"A quest?"

"Yes" at the beginning, when I saw that pendent, I thought it was her, but this stranger has a dragon, so I don't think it's her. She probably gave her the pendent or something like that. Woman are all the same, always playing with the other's hearts.

"A quest after what?" I ask with a monotone voice.

"Looking for, for the… the ideal place."

I just want to cry with laughter, who is this fool? Doesn't she know that there is no place like that? I almost burst out laughing in her face, but I held myself and continued "The ideal place?" I asked with a surprised tone.

"Yes, the ideal place. Where I can be with her without having to worry of being called a traitor. A place where I don't have to kill dragons, where I can fly with her in the daylight and not worrying about being seen, where she isn't seen as an enemy, a threat and where she isn't treated as a best." she said a little desperate but certain of what she was saying.

"And you think that place is here?" I ask curiously.

"Uhm… no. I didn't even know that this island existed, it wasn't part of my path." She answered hesitantly.

"So, what are you doing here?" I'm not understanding a thing, my patience is going away.

"I stopped in an island not so far from here and there they talked about this island… and a Night Fury." she whispered the last part and started to play with the pendent again.

"And you came here for the Night Fury?!" I accused her with protectiveness in my voice.

"Yes. I mean, not that way. I'm not going to do anything bad to him, far from that. It's just that, uhm, I-I, uhm…" look at my luck, she no longer speaks.

"What are you doing here? And stop to try to fool me." I said seriously and irritated.

"I heard some stories" she said after a while "Stories of a Night Fury with someone or something on his back."

_Something? What does she mean with something?_ I just want to laugh.

"And I have only met one Night Fury in my all life and nobody has ever seen any other, so I thought… I thought that maybe I could find someone."

"You're after someone?"

"Yes. I-I mean, not at the beginning but after hearing the stories, I thought that it could be him. If it was him and if I found him, maybe, I don't know, probably I just wanted to see if he was alright and thank him, if he still remembers me that is."

"Uhm" is everything I said while I think.

_Thank for what? What does she want? I thought that nobody remembered Berk's little disappointment…_

"Look, uhm, Sir, I don't want problems. I just came to find a friend, but he isn't here, me and my drag-" she started but I stopped her. Friend? What friend? Were we friends? That's a funny one.

"What friend? Since when?" I said a little pissed.

She just stood still looking at me shocked. After a few seconds she widened her eyes and gasped.

"H-hiccup?" she said perplexed, only a little above a whisper.

I didn't answer, I just stayed there looking at her.

Realization heat her and she gasped once more.

"It's you!" she mumbled "It's you, you're alive." She was now on her knees in the bed, to be closer "Oh My Thor you're alive. I'm so happy to s-" I interrupted her

"You're happy for what? What do you really want? Go ahead spit it out." I was getting furious. _Really? She is happy to see me? I bet she is lying. They are all the same… just like her._

My outburst must have scared her and now she was apprehensive.

"What do you mean? I told you what I'm doing here, I don't want anything."

"And you think I believe that? Spare me woman, I bet that you don't even remember me and you're doing this scene just because." _Just like her._

**Astrid POV**

_How dare he? All these years missing him for him to say this? What happened to him?_

"I am not lying. I missed you, every day. I said I would. And it was true."

"You not always say the truth."

"Me?" I ask hesitant. _What is he talking about? When have I lied to him? What happened?_

"Not just you. You, women not always tell the truth," he said with hatred and turned his back to me. "You lie, play with other people's feelings, just because you want to and then you came back full of excuses, trying to come closer to the victim so you can hurt them again."

_What?_ I have no idea what happened with him these past years, but this is not the one that left Berk 5 years ago. I can't believe this.

"We women… liars? Play with other people's feelings? Where did you get that from?"

"You know, Miss Hofferson, not everybody had a good life these past years. I learned many things, including things about women." He said with bitterness.

Now, I'm furious. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

"You're right. Many things changed in 5 years, but it also can happen in a few minutes." I say in a upset tone "And in these few minutes, I decided I don't wanna be like you anymore."

He looked at me surprised "Be like me?"

"I wanted to be like you, be kind, choose my own destiny and with who I want to be. To stop fighting dragons and be side by side with them. Be like you." I close my eyes before continuing "But that was before, before…"

"Before what?" he urged me to continue.

I that a deep breath "Before seeing what you became. Right now, in front of me, I can only see a cold and broken man, not the boy with whom I exchanged promises."

We stayed in silence for some time with me sitting on the bed, with the fur blanket covering my legs, and using my right arm as support. He was in front of me, a little away from the bed with his head down, maybe thinking.

_I wish I knew what he is thinking._

I was starting to get uncomfortable when he spoke.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at you." He took a deep breath "I'm sorry. Uhm, your dragon his at the stables with Toothless." He said once again.

"Can you take me to her? That way we go away and we don't bother you anymore." I asked. I tried to get up but a wave of pain ran trough my leg and back making me hiss in pain.

Hearing me he came closer and extended his left hand towards me "I can take you to her, but don't go, you're hurt, both of you are tired and it's the middle of the night. Stay… maybe I can show you that not all of the boy you knew is lost." He whispered the last part and looked me in the eyes.

Maybe there's still something about the old Hiccup there. Maybe, if I stay, I'll see the Hiccup I knew again. Maybe he still is the person I admire.

I stared at his hand for a few seconds before looking at his eyes again.

"Okay." I answered softly.

And with that I took his hand.


End file.
